Last weekend I finally broke down and bought something I’ve been wanting for a long time — a new 42-inch flat-screen television. When I started looking, I knew the names of the major brands that were out there, but had no idea which offered the highest quality product. So, of course, without even thinking, I headed straight for the Internet to dig around and see what I could find. Well, there was no shortage of retailers ready to sell me a television, but that was it … few, if any, manufacturers. Sadly, because I wasn’t planning on buying at that very moment, it was not such a great help to me.
This got me thinking … consumer electronics manufacturers do just about everything they can do to get in front of me when I’m reading the newspaper or a magazine, walking through an airport or even waiting for a bus — but when I’m searching online they’re nowhere to be found. In this day and age when more and more consumers are becoming dependent on the Internet for both researching and purchasing, shouldn’t manufacturers want to be visible on as many online “shelves” as possible?
We all know that in-store shelf space remains critical to success in selling consumer electronics at retail stores. But today’s well-informed consumers have often already made their decision before they reach the store — let alone see the shelf. You have to reach them before they stroll into their local electronics store holding a newspaper advertisement, or a print out of an online review that they hand to the salesperson and say, “I want this one.”
The Internet represents a new largely untapped frontier for manufacturers that rely on retailers to sell their products. Although the manufacturer/ retailer partnership is front and center in the Sunday paper, it is ironically less common online where the people who are looking for a TV are spending time looking for information about which brand to buy. For example, today, when a potential buyer searches the Web for “HDTV,” the results returned from consumer electronics retailers read “find which TV is right for you” or “find great prices.” Very helpful, but with no mention of brands in sight, I still don’t know what brand to buy. The manufacturers just missed out on a huge chance to influence my decision before I walk in the store.
Online represents not only the shelf where consumers buy, but also the place where they do the research. Just as manufacturers want to be in front of buyers on the shelf, shouldn’t they also want to be in front of in-market buyers searching for their products online?
David Rubinstein is Senior Director, Tech and Telecom Category at Yahoo!
